A Different Kind Of Love
by lightofeilia
Summary: Yukina confesses her love for Hiei. What is the fire demon going to do now?


**A Different Kind Of Love**

Yukina stared at the blue skies above her, sighing. The Floating Ice Kingdom ... how she missed it. Yet she could not leave her friends behind, whom she had all come to love, and she would not leave until her brother has been found.

She turned back to the birds on the ground, continuing to feed them with birdseed with a small smile, with renewed hope that her brother would return to her.

* * *

Hiei flitted from tree to tree, finally coming to a stop outside Kurama's house. The window was open, so he hopped in. However, Kurama was nowhere to be seen. He listened intently, and with his acute hearing, he easily discerned Kurama's voice from downstairs, talking to someone. After awhile, when Hiei was just about to leave to check on Yukina and come back later, Kurama's bedroom door opened.

"Ah, Hiei! Back again?"

"Hn. Where were you?"

"Oh, I was on the phone," said Kurama casually. Hiei noted the airiness in his voice, but said nothing of it.

"Will you be seeing Yukina later?" said Kurama, a glint in his eyes. Hiei snorted, but said nothing. It was always routing. Drop by Kurama's house, argue over the sibling factor, drop by Genkai's temple to see Yukina, tell her he still hasn't found her brother yet, stay in Kurama's house/tree a few days while arguing again, then leave for the Makai.

"Yes."

"Good. Are you going to tell her?"

"No," said Hiei, and his glare closed the discussion.

* * *

"Hiei-san! You're here!" exclaimed Yukina, a little too excitedly.

"I'll go make some tea,"

"No need," said Hiei gruffly. Yukina smiled at him, then left to the kitchen. Hiei was stunned. Usually, Yukina would take a step back for fear of offending him, and lower her head and apologize. And he would feel immense guilt after that. It seemed today was not going to happen that way. Yukina came back with a pot of tea and served him. After awhile, she spoke the question Hiei knew she would ask.

"Hiei-san, have you found my brother yet?" said Yukina, sounding hopeful.

"No."

"You haven't made any progress at all," said Yukina sadly. _This is going well, I hope he buys it. _

"I've been ... busy."

"Oh..."

There was silence as Hiei drank slowly, content to sit here with his sister (although she did not know it), if only for a little while. He did not want to leave, but he knew he must, as moments like these don't last forever. He noticed Yukina kept fidgeting, and stealing glances at him, and then blushing and looking away. Feeling unnerved and worried that he was making her feel so threatened, he got up to leave.

"Hiei-san, matte!" Yukina blurted out, effectively stopping him. He turned around to ask, but was cut off mid-question when she looked at him with those glassy eyes.

"I've ... I've wanted to tell you for so long..."

Hiei paled. Surely ... surely not!

"I... have this weird feeling when you're around..."

_She knows. She knows, dammit, she knows!_

"You're always so protective of me ... You saved me most of the times," said Yukina shyly, averting her gaze, but not moving from her position, which was dangerously close to Hiei.

Said fire-demon was panicking, but stayed rooted to the spot.

"I know ... I know of your feelings towards me!" she said, looking up at him sadly. Hiei's world came crashing down. _She is disgusted at me. She knows I am her brother, and she regrets ... _Hiei blinked furiously, until the next words she uttered almost made him faint.

"And ... I feel the same way too..."

_What?_

"Hiei ... I love ... I love you... And I know you love me too..."

There was silence as Yukina waited for Hiei to respond. Hiei was confused. His throat dry, hoping that this was all unreal, he decided to clarify something first.

"What ... what kind of love do you feel for me?"

Yukina blinked at the odd question.

"What kind of love? Like lovers, I suppose," said Yukina, blushing furiously. Hiei gagged, and hightailed it out of there as fast as he could. He didn't care if doing so would hurt Yukina, he would come back to apologize once he's done panicking.

* * *

"Shit! Kurama!" he yelled, bursting into the window, his breathing hard and heavy. Kurama whirled around, and his eyes widened at the sight of Hiei in such a state.

"Hiei! What happened? Is Yukina alright? Are you hurt?"

Hiei made an odd sort of strangled noise, and he collapsed onto the floor.

"I thought ... I thought she was happy with the baka!" he choked out.

Kurama blinked.

"She?" Kurama finally said. Hiei nodded, then took a deep breath.

"Yukina told me she loved me, like a mate. Like lovers."

Kurama gasped. He crouched down to Hiei's level, who was cowering in the corner of his room. Unmistakably, he was frightened, afraid of his sister's love, and not as a sibling, but that of a different love, one shared by lovers. Romance, not sisterly love. It left Hiei with no choice. He has to tell her his true identity.

"Hiei."

"Nani?"

"You do realize ... you have to tell her?"

"I know," he said, and shuddered.

"It would break her heart," said Kurama softly. Hiei flinched.

"But hopefully, the prospect of having a brother is much nicer than having the one you love reject you."

Hiei nodded, and with Kurama's support, he left to find Yukina again.

* * *

"Yukina."

Yukina turned around from feeding the birds, and she brightened when she saw who it was.

"Hiei!'

Hiei winced at the noted discarding of the "-san" when she addressed him. At least she hadn't said, 'Hiei, love!'

"I knew you would come back for me," said Yukina happily. Hiei groaned. She said it like those lovesick characters in a romance movie.

"Yukina ... the feelings I have for you ... is not the same as yours," said Hiei, trying to put it gently so she would not be hurt.

"Eh? Then what is it?" questioned Yukina.

"Yukina ... Yukina, I am your brother."

Shocked silence greeted him as he averted his eyes from her. He could hear her heart breaking now.

"I'm sorry ... I cannot love you the way you want me - mmph!"

He did not finish the sentence as his sister, who surprisingly was not shedding a single tear, pulled him into the first hug of his life. Shocked, he pulled away from her to look at her, and she was laughing and crying at the same time. Suddenly he realized that Yukina was not the only giggling. Looking up, he saw everyone coming out of their hiding places, joining in the laughter, and Botan and Yusuke shouted, "Way to go, Yukina!"

"What ... what's going on?" said Hiei, bewildered. Yukina smiled prettily up at him, clasping both her hands with his.

"I was lying," said Yukina, starting to giggle again.

"Lying...? You don't ... you don't really love me?"

"I do! But as your sister," said Yukina earnestly. Hiei almost ran away again at the first two words. But Yukina would not let go of him.

"Then ... why?" he said faintly.

"To get you to tell me, Oniisan. I've known for quite some time now."

At this, Hiei glared at everyone present in the room. All of them shrank back, cowering at his steely glare.

"Iie, Oniisan, none of them told me. I figured it out by myself."

"What are they doing here?"

"They knew what I was going to do."

"Even Kurama?" said Hiei, glaring at the fox who looked away, whistling.

"Hai. Even Kurama. I told them all not to tell."

"You're ... not mad at me?"

"I am! But only because you took so long to tell me."

"I didn't want you to have a murderer for a brother," said Hiei, looking away as he said it.

"I don't mind," said Yukina cheerfully, hugging him again. This time, she felt him respond to the hug, as rough, calloused hands wrapped around her waist. Not too tightly, as though he was still a little afraid, but that would change soon, she thought. Yukina smiled at Kurama, who nodded and winked back. When she told them what she knew, and how badly she wanted him to tell her, it had been his idea.

But Hiei wasn't about to know that.

END


End file.
